


Inked Roses

by orphan_account



Category: AB6IX (Band)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Kim Donghyun Is a Little Shit, Kim Donghyun is Whipped, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Park Woojin is Whipped, Trauma, daehwi is a kid lol, this is gonna get violent pretty quickly so im gonna add tags if any, woong is a cutie as usual, youngmin had a pretty traumatic experience before this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-01-13 22:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Don't say I love you.""We'll only regret it at the end."a busanz/paccham and daejeonz fanfiction.an AB6IX fanfiction.simultaneously published on Wattpad.started: 30/10/2019end: ?





	1. Prologue

Woojin dragged his feet along to work. He didn’t want to do anything today except sleep, and going to his job at a tattoo parlour wasn’t the same as sleeping. As he opened the shop door, a chiming sound from the bell rang, and his boss Donghyun looked up. 

“Ah welcome! Please wai-“  
“Oh. It’s you. Well, you are pretty late, I was waiting for you to give me a bunch of lame-ass excuses over the phone for not coming to work today.”

Woojin groaned. His boss used to be pretty sweet and kind, but now he rarely shows a polite attitude except to the customers and his only son. Only Woojin and Donghyun’s son know why he is so cutting. A marriage that fell apart, and a bitter custody battle between Donghyun and his wife. It ended up with his wife winning, but she died soon after due to overdose of drugs. Though Donghyun received custody of his dear son in the end, he still doesn’t want to talk about his dead wife, considering they loved each other for years until it all fell apart.

Woojin gulped as his boss slammed down a tattoo pen he was holding. “Whatever, I don’t care. Just don’t cross me today, I’m feeling pissed.” Donghyun walked into the bathroom at the back of the store, and Woojin sighed. He wished he didn’t have to bear with his boss’s bad temper, he wished he didn’t have to work in a tattoo parlour just to live, and he wished he could just go back to college. However, the last dream was near impossible for Woojin, and he was unable to find work anywhere else for now.

You see, Woojin wanted to study music and dance to become an idol. He loved it so much, but he couldn’t afford to pay for it. His parents volunteered to pay, but he didn’t want to trouble them any longer. Eventually, he had no choice but to quit the arts school he had yearned to join for so long. From there, his life spiralled downward. He had no idea how he got estranged from his parents, got a job at a tattoo parlour and lived in countless shabby apartments. He wasn’t poor and wasn’t rich but hey, at least he was alive and not rotting in some street corner. 

The tattoo parlour was opened by Donghyun two years back. A young man with a small family, a shop in downtown Seoul and a talent in drawing, he opened a tattoo parlour that quickly became popular. Though he originally worked hard for his craft, he almost lost all motivation when his wife divorced him and took away his son. When he did get his child back, he worked harder than before, determined to keep him and his son alive.

Woojin picked up the pen his boss left on the table and tested it. However, it didn’t make the usual whirring sound. Woojin paused and tried again.

Nope. No whirring sound.

Woojin growled in frustration. There was clearly something wrong with the damned pen as it wasn’t working. He called out to Donghyun, “Donghyun! This pen you slammed down isn’t working!” Donghyun shuffled past him (clearly annoyed), muttering, “Just call the repairmen to come and help, don’t worry.” Woojin picked up the phone and dialled the number, and talked to them about problems with the tattoo pen. They promised to come down in a while, and Woojin waited at the door, staring at his phone.


	2. Acquaintance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> read the wattpad one for gifs lol

The repairmen finally arrived and Woojin immediately noticed something different.

There were two repairmen coming along, one tall and one short, Woojin thought to himself. Usually only one came over to help repair the machines, and another one coming along made Woojin really surprised. 

When the two silhouettes came closer, Woojin saw the familiar shorter and older mechanic who always came by and-

Oh my God, he thought to himself. Oh my fucking God.

The taller man walked a few steps behind the older mechanic, always respectfully nodding as if to answer his questions and cutely giggling at times. He wore a sweet bright smile on his beautiful face, and Woojin has never seen anything more angelic than this man. 

Hell, if there was even such a thing as love at first sight, then Woojin was completely smitten by the tall mechanic. 

The two figures got closer, and Woojin didn’t even notice that the man he was staring at was directly in front of his face.

“Excuse me? May I know if this is XX tattoo parlour?” 

Woojin couldn’t even answer the young man’s question. He just stared and stared at the angel’s face. Though it looked pretty from far away, the mechanic’s face looked ethereal when he was staring close, so beautiful Woojin struggled to find words to describe it. All Woojin would have said was, “You have a cute nose.”

The shorter mechanic’s cough brought Woojin back to this earth and pushed the taller mechanic into the store. “Yeah kid, this is the place. Just go in and wait before this guy over here tries to bite you or something.” The younger man blushed, stuck out his tongue and entered the tattoo parlour, seemingly unbothered by Woojin’s stares.

Woojin finally felt that he could breathe properly when the man left. As he took deep breaths to comprehend what he just saw, the older mechanic’s deep voice rung. “Why were you staring at him? You looked like a creep.” 

Woojin scoffed and replied, “Well, with a face that fine, how could you not expect me to stare at him? You do know I like guys right?” 

“Well, don’t get any ideas about him. He’s my son.”

Woojin stopped dead in his tracks. 

“Well, this just became pretty awkward… Why haven’t I heard about him before?”

The mechanic sighed and simply replied, “He was…gone for a while. Can we go in now so I can start work?”

Woojin nodded and let the man enter, feeling that the attractive young man was more mysterious than he thought.

~~~

Donghyun walked out of the backroom and saw Woojin daydreaming while drinking a protein shake. He asked, amused, “What are you thinking about?”

“There was this cute mechanic I wanted to talk to, but he’s apparently our usual guy’s son.” 

“Well shit, that makes it 10 times more awkward. Have fun experiencing an existential crisis, I’m going to pick up Daehwi from kindergarten.”

With that, Donghyun left the parlour in the direction of the school. His curiosity got the better of him and he looked back into the parlour window to see Woojin staring at the wall with the straw of the already empty protein shake bottle dangling out of his mouth. Donghyun just chuckled and continued on his way.

After a 10-minute bus ride, he arrived at the school eager to see his son. He would have just taken his motorbike here, but he left it for servicing at the mechanic. He walked to the school gate, the parents immediately hushing when he arrives.

Donghyun may look charming, but others were too intimidated by the long tattoos that he got during his gang days. As much as they think of him as a menace, however, he has on multiple occasions caught some moms staring at his face, and some fathers glaring at him. 

He had already arrived at the conclusion that he is simply too handsome to be alive.

Before, he used to care about what people thought of him.

But when Yumi died from a drug overdose, his sensitive side died with her. His only emotional pillar gone from his life. He couldn’t even bear to look at his son for 3 months, only responding when Daehwi started to bawl.

His son reminded him of his wife’s death, and how he was powerless to stop it.

Slowly but surely, he got over his wife’s death, but Donghyun never was the same again. 

He destroyed everything that belonged to her but kept his tattoos as a sole reminder of his first love: Jung Yumi.

His son’s shouts brought him back to reality. “Dad! Dad!” Daehwi excitedly shouted and ran to his father once he spots him.

Donghyun crouched down to hold his son. “Hey be careful! What got you so excited today?” 

“We got a new teacher today! He looked like a pushover so my friends and I tried putting spiders in his hair. He screamed but he still laughed at the end. His laugh was super cute! I’m so happy now that the old hag that used to teach us got transferred to the next class, I hate her!”

Donghyun was rather surprised. Daehwi took after him and his wife, disliking all of his teachers. But now, it sounded like he was happy with this teacher.

How amazing, Donghyun thought to himself. Maybe he should consider meeting up with this teacher to find out how he charmed his son so easily.

“Hey look, he’s coming here! Mr Jeon!”

Donghyun turned around and had a big surprise. He was expecting someone older that looked more experienced in teaching, but all he saw was a beautiful, young man with soft features.

“Hello! You must be Daehwi’s father. I’m Jeon Woong, but you can just call me Mr Jeon.” The shorter man gave him a soft smile and a cute wave. 

Donghyun’s heart…fluttered for the first time in a long while. He hesitantly waved back and Mr Jeon smile grew wider.

“I hope we can work together well for your son’s education! He’s a really awesome kid but just really playful, but I think that’s how all the children should be.” Wow. Even his view of education was different. This teacher was way better than all the others.

But the more Donghyun stared at Mr Jeon, the more a sick feeling welled at the pit of his stomach, but he didn’t know why.

“Mr Kim? Are you alright? You look ill.”

_“Yah! Kim Donghyun! Are you alright? You look sick.” Yumi poked at his forehead while looking worried._

And that’s when he knew.

Mr Jeon reminded him too much of his dead wife.


	3. Dread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol so im going for holiday and won't be able to post for a while
> 
> i'll be back by 23 nov (whipdabs while crying)

Woojin tapped his pen on the table to the beat of a song by a new band. They were young but really popular, and their music wasn’t disappointing like the others.

He peeked down at his notebook and found that it was full of scribbles, some in big chunks an others in sentences, some even with accompanying drawings. A big chunk of the writing was a short story about Woojin and the young mechanic in some alternate universe.

_The Bravado of Prince Woojin by Park Woojin_  
_“Oh my prince! Help me!”_  
_The beautiful young man waved his hand from the flaming tower as he shouted for help. Prince Woojin pulled out a long rope from his haversack, ready to save his bachelor in blind. He threw the rope upwards with his superior strength while yelling to his dear beloved, “Catch it, my love! I shall rescue you from this burning cage!”_  
_The man caught the rope and began to hastily climb down, and when he was still 12 feet off the ground, his hands slipped._  
_“AAHHH!” The beauty fell from the walls of the tower when he lost grip of the rope. Woojin darted towards him as fast as he could but he did not know if he would save his love before his body hit the ground._  
_Fortunately, Woojin caught his love in the nick of time, and they shared a passionate kiss._  
_“Say, after all the time we spent together, I never got your name. What is it, fair beauty?” Woojin asked as he kissed the young man’s hand.  
_ _“It’s-“_

Woojin stopped tapping his pen.

How funny, Woojin thought to himself, I’m infatuated with someone who I don’t even know the name of. He chuckles to himself. His Dad would be really shameful of him, he always taught Woojin to get the name before getting the number.

Well, he didn’t even have his crush’s number yet. So he guessed that he should start by asking for his name then.

Woojin’s train of thought was disturbed when Donghyun runs into the tattoo parlour while Daehwi lagged behind. He watched as his boss rushed into the toilet at the back room and his vomiting sounds ensued from the bathroom. Woojin worriedly gestured in the direction of the bathroom while he looked at Daehwi.

“What happened?” Woojin whisper shouted. Daehwi could only shrug and said, “I dunno! He dragged me back after seeing my teacher and ran all the way here! I really don’t know why he’s acting like this!”

Flushing sounds came out of the bathroom and Donghyun slowly staggered out, his face completely pale with his hands trembling. He collapsed onto a chair near him and Woojin rushed up with Daehwi.

“Hey, Donghyun? You looked really sick back there. What’s the matter?” Donghyun could only shake his head violently, his shaking hands covering his ears and fat tears falling out of his wide eyes.

“I…I… I thought I saw her again. I-in him.”

Woojin and Daehwi waited for him to continue.

“He spoke exactly like her. Even his smile looked like he-hers. What is she doing here? Wh-what is she going to do? Did sh-she really come ba-back? I-is he a-“

“Hey Donghyun, you’re slurring your words. Calm down a little okay? You scared us just now.”

Donghyun nodded and took deep breaths. It was the first time he felt so vulnerable in a while, and he hated every single second of this. 

After a while, he calmed down with his breathing becoming more regulated and his heartbeat slowing down. 

“Hey, I’m better now. Sorry for making you two worried.”

The other two could only stare in pity and worry as Donghyun stumbled to the counter and sat down with his head resting on his chin.

He pondered who exactly was the young schoolteacher.

~~~

Woong ran back into the staff room of the nursery crying.

“Waaaahhh, I really screwed up!!!!!”

All the other teachers stared at him in shock. In the past 3 months Woong had taught here, he never lost his temper or cried because of the children. This was the first time the sweet-tempered man broke down in front of everyone.

Woong ran to his colleague and best friend Minji, and he hugged her really tightly. “Woong-ah, what are you doing? Let go of me or I’ll choke-“ Woong just hugged her even tighter.

“WAAAAHHH~! I think I really pissed off one of the parents, he just went pale and dragged his son off!” Minji was being throttled alive and of course, she didn’t like it. She pushed Woong who stumbled away and started to bawl. Minji just sighed and rubbed her neck.

“Woong-ah, it’s probably nothing, what if he suddenly didn’t feel well? Don’t beat yourself up over this.” Minji patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Woong paled visibly. “Oh nooo~! What if he didn’t feel well because he hated my face? It’s still my fault, isn’t it? Waaaahhh~” Woong started to cry again.

Minji rolled her eyes, but still comforted her best friend. “Don’t be worried Woongs, isn’t the parent-teacher conference coming soon? You can meet him then and find out what he thinks.”

Woong sniffled and rubbed his eyes. “Okay, but…I still think he hates me.” Woong pouted cutely and Minji gave a small laugh. “Sure pouty~, let’s just get back to work.”

~~~

Youngmin felt…strange.

When he arrived at the tattoo parlour with his father, a young man was obviously staring at him.

He absolutely hated it.

He hated it when men and women alike stared at him like he was a piece of meat, ready to be cheaply sold to anyone who wanted him. He wasn’t a fucking commodity for goodness’ sake.

He always felt so insecure, so small, so insignificant when others stared. His past trauma always caught up to him, and he could never stand the nightmarish memory of a man staring at him while he cleaned up the soju bottle glass on the floor, and his coarse hands smashing onto his body. 

Youngmin felt like…like the whole world was out to get him. His originally sweet relationship with him ended with abuse and his broken heart. 

You could say…Youngmin lost all faith in love. It’s all just bullshit to him now.

But the young man who stared at him, his gaze was different. It wasn’t one filled with lust and desire, but rather one filled with admiration and…a gaze that reminded him of someone who had a crush?

Youngmin couldn’t tell what was what. He didn’t want to care.

When he was lying in bed at night, he tossed and turned but no matter how hard he tried, 

He couldn’t forget that man’s eyes.


	4. Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yall can go to my tumblr page at bbangpaca-pens and i may post previews and teasers there
> 
> btw i was working on another story while on holiday and i might post after I finish 10 chaps of it lolol

“Yah, Park Woojin! Can you pick up my motorbike at the mechanic’s shop?”

Woojin looked up from his mushy fan fiction of him and his crush impatiently. He forced out a smile through gritted teeth and asked, “Where?”

Donghyun didn’t even look up from the customer’s arm he was tattooing. “The shop where our usual guy works at.”

Woojin would have broken his pen if his boss interrupted him from writing his fan fiction to go somewhere else, but this time that somewhere was where his beloved worked and Woojin could have never been so happy to go to the mechanic. He practically flew out of the door in happiness and danced down the street.

Donghyun would have been seriously worried for his employee’s mental health if he did not know of his little crush on the mechanic’s son.

He wondered, too, why he had left for so long as he concentrated on his work.

~~~

“Hi!”

Youngmin looked up from his work to see a cheery boy at the doorway. He couldn’t help but think that the boy looked like a little sparrow.

“Yes? Do you need anything, sir?” Youngmin realised that this was the tattooist that stared at him at the tattoo parlour, but he pushed down his mixed feelings of fear and slight excitement to reply courteously to him.

“You.” The man said with a slight smile but immediately smacked his mouth, as if in embarrassment.

Youngmin was confused and pried further. “Me? What do you- Oh.” He realised what the tattooist meant and sputtered a little. “Why would you need me? Is something broken at the tattoo parlour again?” He tried to evade the flirtatious statement entirely.

Woojin was a little flustered and impatient that the man didn’t get his hint, and just decided to get to the point. “Umm, I really like you, like-like in the “I love you” kind of way and um…” He decided to go in for it. “Do you have a name or can I call you mine?”

Oh. So he was the shameless type. Youngmin resisted an eye roll and knelt down to continue the last bit of repair work on the motorcycle. “Yes, I do have a name actually. It’s Lim Youngmin.” Woojin felt that this name had such an angelic ring to it when it was probably just a common name everywhere.

“Oh then…Youngmin, can I have that bike when you’re done with it? I came to pick it up for my boss.” “Sure.” The reply came quick as if Youngmin was willing himself to work harder and shoo the tattooist away.

After a while, with Woojin just shamelessly staring at Youngmin (much to his disgust), he wheeled the bike to Woojin and said, “Good as new.”

“Thanks. Just so you know, my name is Woojin.” He waved and wheeled the motorbike out. Youngmin didn’t wave back and just watched Woojin ride away quietly.

~~~

During the lunch break, Donghyun left his lovestruck employee daydreaming and staring at a wall and got on his bike. He had to go for the parent-teacher meeting that was an unavoidable part of the school year. Every year he had to listen to the teachers bitch about his son and though he didn’t like it, he still had to sit through it all and nod politely when the teachers said mean things. He was definitely not looking forward to this year, for his son dumped fake spiders into the poor man’s hair. The guy would definitely have something to say about that.

He finally met the teacher after a boring 30 minutes, and the first thing he noticed about him was how pretty the teacher looked. His hair that was dyed a whitish blonde was cut into a fringe at the front and the back was combed neatly. His clothes were simple: a white blouse with a black ribbon tied into a bow at the collar, paired with black trousers and small black shoes on his feet. His face looked like a girl’s, and his arms were slender and pale.

“I believe you’re Mr Kim? Daehwi’s father?” Mr Jeon’s gentle but lively voice sounded through the room. “Yes, yes.” Donghyun felt a small blush creeping onto his cheeks; he felt embarrassed for ogling the schoolteacher.

“Please have a seat. Let’s talk about how Daehwi is doing in school lately!” Donghyun liked his voice. He felt as if he could listen to it without ever getting tired of it. Still, he wasn’t too fond of what the teacher was probably going to say about his son.

“Daehwi is such a wonderful child. He’s so kind to his classmates, and he is always making friends!” Hang on, what?

“He is very…righteous, in a way. I asked him once why he doesn’t respect other teachers as much as me, and he simply replied that he only respects those that deserve it. He is so different from the rest and it’s so wonderful! I admire his individuality so.” Woong clasped his hands together, as if in prayer. “We definitely need to work on his respect with authority figures, but other than that, he is set! There’s nothing else he has to work on for character studies.”

Donghyun was surprised that the teacher was speaking such nice things about his kid. The other teachers only bitched about how his son was too impulsive in decision making, never worked hard enough etc. He knew that his son was none of those things, but couldn’t help feeling insecure over his upbringing for his son.

“What about his academics? How had he been doing in his studies?” Donghyun asked with some trepidation in his voice.

“He has been doing exceptionally well in studies too! His English is the most well done out of all his subjects, his oral reading examinations passed with flying colours and he obtained full marks on his written exams! I’m so proud of him.” Woong spoke like a proud mother talking about her son’s achievements.

Donghyun couldn’t help but wonder if Yumi heard of her son’s precociousness, would she feel happy and prideful? No, she wouldn’t. _She would probably tell him to stop boasting and work harder on himself. _Donghyun smiled. Yumi was always the perfectionist and thought that one should never be prideful until they have achieved their best. Woong was nothing like her.

“Alright. Thank you for taking the time to talk today! I’m sure I’ll see you more often in the future.” He hastily asked, “When will I see you again?” Donghyun internally slapped himself for his shamelessness. The teacher blinked and smiled. “Ah, there’s more parent-child bonding activities coming up! We will be seeing each other a lot then.” Donghyun did not know why, but he looked forward to meeting the chirpy teacher in school.

“Also, an unrelated thing…” The young teacher probed cautiously, his tone lower.

Donghyun was surprised that the teacher would talk to him about something else other than his son’s academics and discipline. He leaned forward, curious.

“Why did you run off the other day when I greeted you?” Ah, this. “Did I upset you in any way?” His hurt look was enough to rupture anyone’s heart.

“No, no, it was nothing. You… just reminded me of someone I did not want to meet.” Donghyun wrung his hands, a little nervous.

“Alright then, I’m glad I didn’t offend you in any way. Have a nice day!” He got up to bow, and Donghyun bowed back. Woong waved a little.

Donghyun smiled back, and as he left the classroom, he felt strangely joyful.

~~~

Woojin skulked around after his boss left. One morning without seeing the adorable mechanic had put him in a foul mood. During his lunch break, he locked up the tattoo parlour and walked over to the mechanic’s shop.

When he marched in, an apprentice looked up from his work. “Hi, how may I help?” Woojin almost growled at the guy and snarled through gritted teeth, “Where’s Youngmin?”

The poor guy was so intimidated that he shrank back and stuttered, “Uh…umm, the boss’ son isn’t here to-today. He fell ill last night.”

Woojin felt worried. “Really? What happened?” The apprentice looked down, shaking from head to toe. “I don’t know, the boss told me to not t-tell anyone.”

Woojin left the shop, feeling extremely worried. He felt something bad happened, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

_What a shame_, Woojin sighed to himself. He won’t be able to see Youngmin until next Monday.

He stumbled back to the tattoo parlour, feeling more despondent than when he left.

~~~

Youngmin coughed as he sat up. His body felt like it was going to combust at any moment, yet he was cold and shivering like it was the winter. It was still the midsummer, but the chilly winds at night didn’t help.

The nightmare of his ex returned last night, and the memory came so suddenly that he fell ill after a sleepless night.

The inner tranquil he had worked so hard to maintain was replaced with the nightmarish memory of a man striking him. Every time he closed his eyes, the faces of him returned no matter how hard he tried to make them go away. He clutched his hair tightly and almost pulled out the black locks.

Youngmin couldn’t do anything else but cry himself to sleep.


	5. Admitted

Woong spun around on his chair, feeling elated.

The parent did not hate him, and he was not the direct cause of any suffering endured by the poor guy, who looked overworked.

Woong never wanted to be the cause of someone’s burden; if they fell ill because of him, it would be on his head. The compassionate schoolteacher never wanted anyone to suffer because of him.

Still, this parent was a mysterious one. He knew from the biannual family visits that Mr Kim was the single father of Daehwi; the poor kid’s mother died from an overdose of drugs. Though he was in a gang in the past, he no longer joined any gang activities so his son could be safe.

It was a well-kept secret that the school kept tabs on every single parent and relative of children enrolled there; it was crucial for them to understand their families and give them protection in case unexpected situations arose.

Woong could not stop thinking about Mr Kim. His handsomeness, the tattoos that were inked all over his forearm and how well he dressed. He told himself to get it out of his head. It was bad for him to have a crush on a parent; they were both men (he didn’t even know Mr Kim’s sexuality, but he was most likely straight) and it would not be good for the name of the school.

He tried but he failed miserably, and his mind was full of the mysterious man that was Mr Kim for the rest of his day.

~~~

Youngmin finally felt better after a long weekend of nightmares and fever. His mom had come over to take care of him, but he shooed her away after a few hours, telling her that she was going to fall sick too if she stayed too long.

He patted his cheeks and found that they were no longer hot. He rejoiced that his persistent fever finally faded and he had some cold water before he left for work, ignoring the rumbling in his stomach.

As soon as he left, the cold morning air hit him and he wanted to do nothing else but to go back into his warm blankets. His fever had gone but he was still weak. He was throwing up all of his food so he stopped eating, _no point in wasting food_, he thought. If this holds up, he would not have enough money for food next week.

As he turned into the street of his father’s shop, he tripped over a protruding tile and he would have fallen if not for a strong hand holding him up. He looked back, expecting to see his father, but Instead found the tattooist from the tattoo parlour down the street.

“Let go of me, please. I’m not feeling well.” Youngmin tried his best to shake off Woojin’s arm that was latched tightly to his own.

“Nope. You were falling over so I had to help you.” Woojin looked a little smug. He was proud that he had caught his crush before he fell, and he thought that Youngmin would be impressed.

(Disclaimer: He was far from impressed.)

Youngmin tried again to shake the shorter man off, but every slight movement made him almost lose his balance. He felt weak and dizzy and wanted to sit down but the shorter man just wouldn’t let go.

“May I take you out for dinner? You look hungry.” He said flirtatiously with a wink but Youngmin paled visibly at the strangely familiar gesture.

“I’m not hungry. I don’t want to go anywhere with you.” Youngmin shook his head violently, an action that Woojin did not miss. He frowned, not understanding why he was so distressed.

“But you need to eat,” Woojin said matter-of-factly with a slight intonation in his voice.

Youngmin was shocked he didn’t notice it earlier.

_“Youngminnie, we are the best of friends, right? Then we must go and eat, you look too hungry.” _ _He_ _ said with a joyful tone in _ _his_ _ bright voice, one that made Youngmin think that _ _he_ _ was the sun itself._

_“Nope. Though I’m sorry that my dad set me up with you, I am not eating anywhere with you. You might poison my food.” _ _He_ _ covered his mouth to laugh. _ _He_ _ always made him laugh effortlessly._

_“Come on, you need to eat. You are thin as a stick. Don’t you eat enough at your family’s farm?” _ _He_ _ held Youngmin’s hand tightly as they walked to the fast food store in town._

_“The things we grow aren’t for me, you idiot.”_

Youngmin felt his chest tighten and clutched it, feeling out of breath. He had an urgent need to vomit as the world around him swirled. He shivered, but the intensity was nothing like the chills he had yesterday. These were more violent and uncontrollable.

“Hey, are you alright?” Woojin backed away from Youngmin to give him space once he realised the poor man was starting to hunch over in pain. He laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him, but Youngmin shrugged him off with more energy than he did just now. Woojin noticed passers-by gawping that the scene that was unfolding and he was careful to avoid their gaze.

“Don’t touch me!” He yelled into the air and Woojin was shocked. The mechanic he had been stalking watching for a long time was usually mild-mannered and soft-spoken. This was nothing like him.

His soft face had contorted with pain that stemmed from his chest. He clutched it tighter, gasping for air like he was being strangled when no one was touching him. His pain grew worse by each second, like hundreds of knives were stabbing his chest and a lone tear escaped from his eyes.

Woojin stepped forward and hearing movement, Youngmin stumbled back instinctively and slammed into the back of the wall with a loud thud. He gave a small groan before sliding to the ground, motionless. Woojin would have thought he was dead if not for the heaving of his chest.

“Youngmin? Are you alright?” He shook the lifeless body like a rattle, and upon hearing his voice, the said man let out a low groan before letting his head loll to the side.

Woojin picked up his cellphone to call the ambulance. Though Youngmin only bumped his head, it wasn’t to be taken lightly in case there was some type of damage.

After the ambulance arrived, he went with Youngmin to the hospital and on the way, the paramedics asked him on Youngmin’s particulars; he didn’t know anything about him (much to his shame), so they decided to ask him when he came to.

Woojin could not fathom what had happened to Youngmin to make him so distressed.

~~~

A tall, angry couple stormed into the hospital ward.

“Park Woojin? What did I tell you? Stay away from my son!” The mechanic raged and caught Woojin off guard. The soft-spoken man was just like Youngmin, almost never raising his voice. However, the said man was fuming and his wife was giving Woojin a stern glare.

“I didn’t do anything to him.” Woojin straightened up. He had hounded Youngmin endlessly, that’s for sure, but he would never lay a finger on him.

“Really? Then why is my son here at the hospital? You must have done something.” The mechanic was seething with anger and without warning, lurched forward and delivered a punch square on his cheek.

“Ow man! What the fuck?” Woojin cupped his bruised cheek and wiped the blood off his face, the impact causing his nose to bleed. He gripped the mechanic’s collar and was just about to beat the man up and Youngmin’s voice rang out.

“Stop it! Stop it, I don’t need any more drama for today.” Youngmin was crying, the tears dripping down his face. The mechanic, who couldn’t bear to see his son crying, lowered his fists. He shoved Woojin aside and went to his son. “Hey kid, it’s gonna be okay. There’s nothing to be scared of.” He held his son tightly, who sobbed into his shirt.

Mrs Lim walked up to Woojin and pointed her finger at him. “You.” She growled through clenched teeth, clearly holding back her fury. “Get out of here, and don’t you dare lay a finger on our son.” She turned away to console her bawling child.

Woojin left the ward feeling wronged and his heart weighed heavy on his chest, and Youngmin just watched through his tears and his conflicted heart twinged as the mint blue head disappeared through the doorway.

~~~

“I’m so sorry Mrs Jeong, but I need to head out tonight. I’m sorry to burden you.” Donghyun bowed 90 degrees towards his neighbour’s door.

“No problem. Daehwi is such a joy to babysit. Have fun!” The bubbly lady smiled at Daehwi, who was helping her set the table for dinner.

“Thank you so much.” He bows before leaving for the restaurant downtown.

He rode leisurely, enjoying the time he had for himself. His wife and he both believed in me-day: a day to spoil yourself. After he had to take care of his son after his wife’s divorce and subsequent overdose, he had lesser and lesser time for himself.

But today was special. It was the day 4 years ago, in a small alley in Daejeon where he got shitfaced drunk and decided to propose to his girlfriend of 2 years. Thankfully, she fought off the stench of cheap alcohol and agreed to it. Though their marriage ended horribly, he still loved her deep down and respected her.

He arrived at the old ramen restaurant he and Yumi would always eat at when they first arrived in Seoul for it was cheap and clean. (It never tasted good but at least happy hour beers were economical enough.

He pulled up a barstool and ordered some food from the waitress, who was throwing too many looks for her own good. He looked around for someone random to talk to before settling on another young man with whitish blonde hair.

“Hey man, how have things been going for you?” He moves closer to the man but is surprised to find a familiar face.

“Oh helloooo Mr Kimmm~” The schoolteacher whom he had just spoken to a few days ago was clearly inebriated as he slurred his words. “What are you doing hereee? Did you come to find meeeee?” The man was reeking of alcohol and clinging on to Donghyun’s jacket. He took a look at his mortified face and giggled uncontrollably. “Why dooo you look sooooooo scared? I don’t bite~” Woong tried to pin him down on the counter but Donghyun pushed him back on the barstool easily.

“Calm down Mr Jeon, people are looking at us.” Donghyun used one hand to continue pushing Woong back onto the chair while trying fruitlessly to pour him a glass of water to sober him up. Woong snatched a bottle of wine from another patron who was too wasted to even get the bottle back and chugged the bottle, with Donghyun looking on wide-eyed.

He tried to remove his eyes from the frightening sight that was his son’s teacher slowly drinking himself to death and did the most logical thing in his mind at the time-he snatched the bottle from Woong and swigged it while the other man clawed at the base of his jacket.

He noticed, beyond the bottle, a couple of burly men at the back of the bar, one of them licking his lips while leering at Woong’s bottom. Donghyun instinctively knew something was wrong and kept an eye on the men. He tried to look for the owner of the establishment, but they were nowhere to be found.

Even with his somewhat terrifying presence guarding the older man, the shady characters still approached him. “Hey there beautiful, how are you doing?” The leader of the gang slinked a muscular arm over Woong’s small, delicate shoulder.

He shuddered under the weight and slurred, “Who the hell are you? Get off me.” He tried to push the man away to no avail. “How about you and me go somewhere private so we can…talk?” The man had a predatory smile as he tried to yank Woong off the chair.

“Mr Kim! Help me!” Woong desperately cried as he was being dragged off the stools. The men laughed madly as they saw how anguished the young man was as he clung the countertop with dear life.

They barely even noticed a black-haired shadow stormed angrily behind them.

Donghyun picked up one of the cronies before he dragged and threw him outside, the group turning around at the commotion. They were aghast at how easily the handsome fellow had tossed their friend like he was simply throwing trash out. They were bigger than him, but he was definitely stronger. Knowing that this was a match they could not win, they dropped their assault on Woong and cleared out hastily, as if to avoid the fury that is Donghyun.

He tiptoed quietly back to the smaller man who was distraught. Woong just stared blankly at him for a few moments before bursting into tears and Donghyun was at a loss. He tried his best to ignore the odd looks from the other bar patrons and awkwardly patted his acquaintance’s back. “Uhh, hey, you’re okay now. Should I get you home?” Woong just sobbed out an address before he continued to howl. Donghyun tried to block out his eardrum-splitting cries as he hauled his arm over his shoulder and dragged him to his motorbike.

Somewhere along the way, he found that Woong had stopped crying and had fallen asleep. With the man’s hands locked tightly around his waist, he felt a small bit of satisfaction he hadn’t felt in years. They arrived at Woong’s apartment block and the smaller man was sleeping like a brick.

Donghyun piggybacked him effortlessly into the lifts where he got up to Woong’s floor. He felt around Woong’s shirt pockets for the keys and found one in his breast pocket and unlocked the door. He located the soft couch in the living room and deposited the sleeping male on it gently. Donghyun took off his leather jacket and covered Woong with it.

As he stood up to leave, he took a glance at his sleeping face and was enthralled by his beauty. He stooped down and traced his fingers over Woong’s slim face. He marvelled at his pale skin and smoothed over his eyebrows, watching as he shuddered when Donghyun stroked his forehead.

After half a bottle of wine at the ramen bar, he felt his eyelids grow heavier and stumbled on the carpet, which he fell on. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, he shut them while thinking that a nap won’t hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not posting for so long i was dead lmao


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